Love Them or Hate Them, Here Come the Snakes Quiz

Answer: False coral snake

The lizard-like skull of the false coral snake makes it more like its earliest ancestors than any other snake surviving today. It has a cylindrical red-and-black banded body with a constant diameter and a very short tail, and grows to an average or around 27 inches overall. Its eyes are virtually hidden under large scales.

Answer: Rainbow boa

Also known as the slender boa, the rainbow boa can be sub-divided into nine subspecies. The one pictured here is actually a Brazilian rainbow boa. They are named because of their spectacular, iridescent coloring which can make appear to change colours as the light or angle changes.

They thrive on high humidity, so their native range covers the tropical regions of the Americas, Costa Rica and Panama in Central America, and east of the Andes mountains as far south as northern Argentina in the southern continent.

Answer: Cat-eyed snakes

There are ten species of cat-eyed snake in the Leptodeira genus. Their native habitat ranges from northern Argentina in the south to southern Texas in the north. The pictured snake is a northern cat-eyed.
Cat-eyed snakes are part of the Colubrinae subfamily, the largest of all subfamilies of snake. So too are the three alternatives offered in the question.

Answer: Australian copperhead

The venomous Australia copperhead has three sub-species: pygmy, highland and common. The common copperhead is the largest of the three, growing to between 5'6" and 6' and native to southern Victoria and Tasmania.
Frogs are the principal menu item for copperheads, although they also eat tadpoles and even their own offspring. If frogs are common in an area, expect to find copperheads and few other snakes.
Although copperhead venom is not the strongest by Australian standards, an untreated bite will kill an adult human. There is also no specific anti-venom.

Answer: Banded sea krait

Also called the colubrine sea krait or yellow-lipped sea krait, the banded sea krait is venomous although they tend to avoid human contact and they are not aggressive towards swimmers or divers. Most recorded bites from banded sea kraits occur when fishermen attempt to remove snakes from their nets.
Banded sea kraits generally hunt in packs along with goatfish and giant trevally, with the kraits flushing prey from holes and crevices.

Answer: Green anaconda

Anacondas do not hunt humans and are non-venomous, but encounters between man and snake can still be bad news for man. There are four species of anaconda: the Bolivian anaconda, the dark-spotted anaconda and the yellow anaconda in addition to the pictured green anaconda, which is also sometimes called a water boa.

The green anaconda is the world's heaviest and largest snake species, and only the reticulated python grows longer -- males regularly approach 17 feet in length although specimens as long as 22 feet have been found. They are native to South America in the region east of the Andes as far south as northern Paraguay. They can also been found on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Most anacondas live in the rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, and in particular in swamps, marshes and slow-moving streams and rivers.

Anacondas hunt by floating just beneath the surface with their snouts out of the water, searching for prey passing by or stopping to drink. The snake strikes and holds the prey with its mouth whilst its body coils around the victim, constricting until the prey has been suffocated.

Answer: Black mamba

Although its scales are often black, that is not what gives the black mamba its name -- it is from the interior of its mouth, which is always inky-black. It is Africa's longest venomous snake, only the Asian king cobra is longer. It is also Africa's fastest-moving snake, and one of the quickest found anywhere.

All other species of mamba are primarily arboreal, but the black mamba builds lairs on the ground. They can be found in a variety of habitats including savannah and rocky slopes as well as in woodlands and dense forest. Primarily an ambush predator, the black mamba's menu includes a variety of small mammals, particularly hyrax and nagapies (small monkeys also sometimes called bushbabies).

The black mamba is also one of the world's most toxic venomous snakes -- their bite will disable a fully grown human within 45 minutes and kill within 7-15 hours if untreated.

Answer: Water moccasin

The western cottonmouth is the smallest of the three species of water moccasin, also sometimes called cottonmouths, Congo snake, trap-jaw or gapper. Its scientific name's literal meaning is "hook-toothed fish-eater".
Large snakes capable of delivering a fatal bite, water moccasins tend not to retreat when confronted, as most snakes do, but to stand their ground, their bodies coiled, fangs displayed. Usually found in or near to slow-moving streams, shallow lakes or marshes, this is the world's only semiaquatic viper.

Although the water moccasin's diet consists mostly of fish and frogs, it is an opportunistic diner and has even been known to eat carrion.
Unlike many of the world's large snakes, the water moccasin is not at the top of the its food chain and has numerous predators including snapping turtles, American alligators, eagles, hawks, horned owls and numerous wading birds such as crane and heron.

Answer: Desert cobra

Also sometimes called 'desert black snake', the desert cobra is common in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northwestern Saudi Arabia. They grow to an average length of just under two feet but have been found at close to six feet.
Nocturnal and most active around midnight, the black cobra does not wait to ambush its prey but actively hunts and pursues. On its menu are lizards, toads, mice, birds and other snakes.
The black cobra's venom is twice as deadly as its more famous Indian cousin.

Answer: Burmese python

The Burmese python is one of twelve non-venomous species of 'true pythons' found in Asia and Africa. Female Burmese pythons are usually slightly longer and considerably larger and heavier than the males -- an average 13-foot female weights in at around 80 pounds whereas a 10-foot male weighs only half of that. Individuals longer than 13 feet are rare, although not unknown -- the longest Burmese python known stretched to almost 19 feet.

Although importation to the U.S. was banned in 2012, the Burmese python population in Florida is now classed as an invasive species. More than 1,300 had been captured in the Everglades alone by 2009. Bird, coyote and Florida panther populations are all considered threatened by Burmese pythons.